And To All A Good Night...

It came and went, like it always does... that naughty Christmas. All the preparation, waiting and excitement and then bam!! it's over. It was fun and I'm pleased to report another successful holiday. On Christmas eve my dad had a little get together at his house. My sister, Jackie, who has been living in Texas with her mom was in town. Syrena welcomed her by holding a gun to her head.... After that party we ran home to wake up Eric just before his mom got there with our presents. They usually do a big party and we all get together and the kids haven't been able to go yet. The first year Eric and I were not yet officially a couple so it felt kind of weird to bring the kids and then last year I had to work at Target and didn't get to go at all. This year there has been a stupid falling out of sorts amongst the brothers and there wasn't a party at all. Here's hoping for next year. Anyway, after she had spoiled us rotten (as she does every year) the kids sat down to write letters to Santa.

Here's Syrena giving an impression of Santa...

In the morning. lo and behold Santa did come after all; despite their naughtiness factor...

Tommy has an odd obsession (well, many odd obsessions) with the Star Wars Cookbooks so Santa brought number two and mom and dad supplied number one. I am hoping that this will benefit us in two ways: I will learn to cook new things and Tommy will eat new things.

Syrena felt like this was her best present, her elusive kitten came out of eternal hiding for a few moments....

Our first try at one of the items from the cookbook: Galaxy Grilled Cheese. Well, okay, you're right. I never even looked at the recipe. I just made him a grilled cheese and told him it was a Galaxy Grilled Cheese (I did, however, neglect to point out that I burnt it and dropped it on the floor- hey, after I picked off Nanuk's hair you couldn't tell...). He gleefully ran to his room to find the appropriate figures so that it matched the picture in the book.

The dogs also made out like bandits... Eric seriously went crazy for them.

Syrena made good friends with the neighbor, Jordan, while home with us on Christmas vacation. Her dad is Mr. Fix-It and builds all kinds of things. He built a big platform with a ramp, covered it with snow and made a big luge run for sledding.

We had lots of fun... then we thought to ourselves, hmmmm what could we possibly do with all this snow at our disposal, three children and one immature adult? Snowball fight of course! I had a problem not eating all the snow, oh how I love tasty delicious snow. Tommy was exhausted from all the activity.

Now I suppose I'll have to quit buying everything I see as I no longer have "It's Christmas!" as an excuse. However, I do have a wedding coming up....

Good Times and a Rant

(Nanuk the Red-Nosed Malamute had a very big red nose... and if you ever smelled him, you would know he's not a rose...)

Had another great weekend; I have unfortunately, however, lost my camera yet again. So I figured rather than wait to do a new blog until I have them up, I'll just get the words in here now and post them later 'cause I know I won't have time to do it tomorrow and then I'll have a whole new slew of pics to put up from Christmas, so here we go.... On Friday Secelia and Jon came over and we made naughty Christmas cookies. I am not going to say what some of them are for fear of offending. We had a snowman that had been shot, pac man, a kitty (got pretty maimed in the oven though) a bum complete with poo and other assorted items. Of course, what is a night of naughty cookies without the obligatory icing fight?

Saturday was mundane, got my oil changed and Eric and I finished up some shopping.

Sunday was, as always, housework and football. My damn Broncos... well I keep telling everyone that they lost on purpose so that next week's game with San Diego is really exciting. I also went to Ashlee's house and we made some Mud Puppies (I think that's what they're called) for the bosses. They were out of everything else we needed to make our other ideas, but I think this was a good one. I tried to kill Ashlee.... we made some coffee and were happily sipping away, then we decided to cut some of Molly's mats off (Ashlee's roomie washed her but didn't brush her out and Molly ended up with a bunch of mats from it). I was putting them on the counter, but it become grossly apparent when Ashlee tried to take a sip of her coffee that at some point my hand had strayed and instead placed a large hairball in her coffee. Oops!!!! I am so sorry!!!!

Then I ran home to get ready for Tommy's baptism in the Mormon church. Though I can't say I'm super thrilled about the whole thing, I do realize there are worse things my son could be. So I went with my dad, Secelia and Jon. It was okay... I was under the impression that TONS of Ben's family would be there and it would be super uncomfortable. Instead there were only a couple of them and they were all very nice to me. I even went to his house afterward for refreshments, it was awkward but not as bad as it could have been. I was definitely relieved to go though.....

However, yesterday Ben called me and things kind of went down the toilet. I am going to rant... so beware. He called because Jon had written something "inappropriate" on Tommy's baptism book page. Here I am envisioning all kinds of crazy-ass things, any of which Jon could be capable of.... I am paraphrasing, but it was something like, "I love you Tommy and remember that any path to enlightenment is okay." I was stunned that this was even an issue! I was quiet and apologetic for the most part, knowing that it would only lead to a big ugly fight if I were to agree or in any way back up what Jon had written - I know there is no talking to him, especially about church.

I would like to say my piece now though... I agree!!!!! Any path to enlightenment, or a connection with God or whatever, is OKAY!!!! And that would include the one that Tommy has so far chosen. Ben went on to say that this comment would make Tommy question his religion. What a ridiculous and asinine thing to say! Of course it won't. 1st: Tommy doesn't even understand that word and wouldn't give the comment a second thought right now. 2nd If any path is okay, including the Mormon one, why would that make Tommy question anything? 3rd He also needs to realize that not everyone will be choosing that path and he needs to accept and love those people as well - especially since his mother will never be walking that particular path. 4th If Tommy ever did question the Mormon church, it certainly wouldn't be because someone said "any path is okay" it would be because he has experienced things or thought about things and for whatever reason, they don't make sense with their teachings or whatever. What I am saying is that it would be based on a personal discovery and not on what someone else says - he will be hearing others voicing their opinion on the church (both for it and against it) for all of his life; we all do.... he has to choose what he wants to believe, not what others want him to believe and that goes for both sides. This is a personal thing for him and no one else.

But like I said, throughout the conversation I remained apologetic and neutral.. until Ben asked if I agreed with him. After a thoughtful pause, I said, "I understand why you feel that way." And it just exploded from there. I could go into detail, but it just serves to get me angry and what's the point? I think it's pretty darn silly to tell anyone that there is only one way to do anything, even in math there are several way to get to the number 3.... 1+2, 8-5, 3 x 1, etc. Finding your spiritual way in life is so different for each person, even members of the same church. One last moan and groan: Ben also cited taking Tommy to church teaches him morals... I am SOOOOOO sick and tired of hearing that crap not only from him but from others as well.... parents can teach morals just as well, maybe even better than churches. When you as a parent teach them, you are in direct control of what your child is learning. We see the news all the time when some member of a church has done some awful thing. Child abuse, stealing, embezzling, etc. The point is, you don't really know who is teaching your child unless it's you. There are plenty of sickos out there going to church every Sunday (and plenty of fabulous people too...) and there are conversely lots of people that don't go to church who are honest, charitable and genuinely good people. So there you have it. I feel like I could go on forever, but to what end? Love and peace to all!

Jury Duty

Despite the fact that I'm hardly a qualified candidate to pass judgement on someone else's interpretation of "right and wrong" (considering my own difficulty on the subject during so much of my life) the US government requested that I serve on some unsuspecting person's jury..... I showed up and began the long wait. There were three trials that day and eventually someone thought to send for the prospective jurors... the first group went.... the second group went and then there was us. The outcasts. Finally we were told that upon hearing that I would possibly be listening to their case, the person freaked out and settled on a plea bargain. The judge had released us. On my way back to the car via the TRAX train, I called my little pal at work and asked if I was needed. She urgently requested that I not go in... my absence had given her a much needed break from receptionist work and she was happily fulfilling someone else's job who was, in turn, fulfilling mine. I readily agreed and began my day off officially. After some mundane housework and getting dinner put together in the crock pot, the doggies and I set out for some much needed exercise. We walked on the Jordan River Parkway to the Taylorsville Dog Park. Peanut anxiously awaited the cermonial taking out of the tennis ball, and eagerly bounced along after it each time I hurled it into the frigid wintry air. She lost it a couple of times and I had to bound (not quite so eargerly) in and fetch it for her. Nanuk will not ever leave my side, so the only exercise he got was following me around looking for the damn ball.

I had to take off running and quickly turn around to snap this shot because Nanuk wouldn't move from my side far enough to even take a picture of him.

Then I forced Eric to go shoe shopping with me at DSW, which he hates above all other things. My shoe collection and obsession is a constant dagger in his side. But I had coupons!!!! And I NEEDED brown boots!!!! He dutifully indulged me. Afterward we picked up the kids and spent another terrific night with them. Tommy regaled us with an amazing monster truck show wherein he raced all of his hundreds of thousands of monster trucks... but he tired of it before we found out who the all time fastest monster truck was. I'm taking a wild guess and going with one of his Gravediggers as he has several of them. Syrena was in a pre-teen fit most of the night. My dad claims the pre-teen years are worse than the actual teen years and I'm just praying that he's right on this particular nugget of parent wisdom. She may not make it much longer without a pair of 29 year old hands wrapping tightly around her tiny and vulnerable throat.... She's the epitome of the "emotional roller coaster" though. One second I am picturing the look in her eyes as I gleefully educate her on the proper way to treat your elders as taught in the early 1900s, the next second she's my perfect little princess again - full of love, humor and goodwill towards man kind. I would at least take goodwill towards her brother. That is the source of most of the angst; it would really be nice if she had some more friends around where were live she could go play with because I know little brother gets on her nerves and certainly vice-versa, but she can't seem to leave him alone. I know she purposely sets him off just for shits and giggles. Fortunately, Ben and I have decided to split them up for some of the upcoming Christmas vacation and I think that will help. Also, my sister Jackie is returning from Texas for that same vacation and I know Syrena will be in good spirits for that. Here's hoping...

It's Getting Closer....

Holy crap, Christmas is closing in at a record pace... at times it's snail pace and other times it's way too fast. For the weeked we were going to go to the Temple and see the lights, but the kids ended up not wanting to go, and I was okay with that. It's too cold out there!

Saturday we took the kids to the mall and let them pick up presents for eachother and for each parent. Tommy is sooooo excited to give Eric's present to him this year -it's so cute. I don't think that Eric reads this, but on the off chance that he does I'll have to reveal it after Christmas.

I got this pic of my adorable and precious angel Foosa camping out in the sink:
The news kept going on and on about how big the moon was on Friday, that it was the biggest since 1993... it looked like a normal moon to me - cool and misty through the clouds though.

On Monday morning, I caught this beautiful sunrise on my way to work....

I am probably going to be doing the jury duty thing tomorrow...

Bleh

I have been trying to get into the Christmas spirit, but this year I am finding it somewhat difficult. On Friday night we went Christmas shopping with Eric's mom and wow, is that a task never to be taken lightly.... On Saturday morning Eric and I woke up to this:


Apparently one of the cats, or more likely two of the cats had a hayday in the Christmas tree and knocked it over. Very naughty....

Then we were off to the big family Christmas party, it was awesome to see everyone there - it was a huge turnout for our end of the family, plus I got to have the kids long enough to seriously sugar them up before turning them back over to Ben. Eric and I spent the rest of the night shopping.

Sunday was football, neither of our teams were televised but they both won! I also went and saw Twilight with Ashlee... it was....well hopefully they do better with the second one.

On Saturday when I got home I had some nasty mail waiting for me, a jury duty summons for next week (yuck) and a bill from my dentist for nearly $1300 that said if I don't give them the money in 10 days they're sending me to collections.... (super yuck). So everyone needs to be sending me good energy to win the $960 from the radio station, I keep trying everyday....

Thanksgiving... Vegas Style

This year for Thanksgiving we all ventured down to Sin City... Las Vegas. It was fun, we didn't pack a ton of stuff in there so it wasn't too crazy. We arrived at my Grandma's around Noon and prepared to feast... I got this picture of my dad - he had just finished taunting me about something - I don't remember what - when I took this pic of him grinning like a Cheshire cat. I also got this with my Grandma and Jude... shortly after that I lost the camera for a couple of days.

After dinner, Aunt Kari took us out to The Fiesta Casino to see her favorite local band, Even Flow, perform cover songs. It was a lot of fun and a nice man, who apparently had a crush on Aunt Kari (can you blame him?), bought us two rounds of drinks and all the ladies got little change purses; unfortunately, I've lost mine already.... Eric and I danced to a couple of songs and Eric also danced with Aunt Kari to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" it was very sweet.

On Friday, my Dad, Aunt Kari, Eric and I all went golfing at the place where my Grandma has a membership. I did okay, had a couple of good shots but was mostly ummm.... out of practice. My dad whooped us all; and he hasn't golfed in about 5-6 years!

Friday night we took the kids to Circus Circus. It was sooooo packed, as it always is since it's one of the few places on the Strip that you can take kids to. I spent over $50 to come away with 3 stuffed animals that probably should have cost me around $15 to buy at a store.... damn. We had fun though and that's what matters.

On Saturday I took the kids swimming and we lazed about the hotel for most of the day. I went to Popeye's for dinner (yes!!!) and bought 5 containers of Red Beans and Rice so I could take some home - I even brought a cooler with me just to bring some home. Just before Eric and I got to the Strip, I made the miraculous discovery of the camera!

Here we are waiting at the Belagio for the water show.

The water show....

We went into the Belagio to check out the Atrium, it was all decked for fall.. I didn't get any pics, but it was cool. On the way back out, we had a super sweet shot of the Eifel Tower from the Paris behind the water show...

After that we ventured a bit further down to see the volcano at the Mirage, but it wasn't working right :( So we hung out and watched them painfully trying to get it to work, then we took off for the car.

Here we are packing up....

I made the kids pose for this picture because they spent much of the "vacation" at each other's throats... Tommy frequently blames this on the fact that Syrena is becoming a teenager...

We tried to leave on Sunday in time to get the dogs picked up so we wouldn't have to pay for another night of boarding, but I guess everyone was coming home... the roads were swamped and for about a 20 mile stretch, it was stop and go (at Payson) so it took us forever to get home. Can't wait to see the doggies, but I can wait to pay the bill....